The Music Engineering & Technology Alliance (META), comprised of industry leaders such as Phil Ramone, Elliot Scheiner, Frank Filipetti, Al Schmitt, George Massenburg, Ed Cherney, Chuck Ainlay and Rory Kaplan, announced its formation this week. META’s mission is to ensure the implementation of optimum standards and practices for the highest-quality music recording and delivery achievable by uniting audio professionals, technology providers and consumer electronics manufacturers in a collaborative effort.
“Our group has been in close communication for several years working to reach the technical developers, and the consumer electronic groups. It was the right time to focus all of our efforts into a proactive mission to improve audio quality and the integrity in which it’s delivered,” says Rory S. Kaplan, META president and former DTS executive and producer.
An executive team is in place with the early appointment of Kaplan, who brought on his colleague, former DTS COO Bill Neighbors, as Acting-CEO. In addition, META cofounder and Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer and audio technology pioneer George Massenburg, has taken on the responsibilities of Chief Technical Officer and Standards Committee chair. Entertainment industry vet Raphael Tisdale has been appointed General Counsel for the group.
“We plan to support those technologies and formats that opt to work with us in a collaborative setting thereby bridging the existing gap between technology providers and the experts who use and apply it. In this way, we plan to improve and heighten the capabilities to deliver to consumers what artists are actually producing in the studio,” continues Kaplan.
One way in which META plans to raise the bar in industry technology standards is through the implementation of a certification program that they are developing Other META programs and services include facilitating research and development, standardization and cross-platform interoperability, and providing education and mentoring.
When discussing how the META group came about, CTO George Massenburg explained, “We have been friends and associates for years…fans of each other’s work, oft-times collaborating on projects. We have agreed for some time that our industry is lacking an objective resource to review technology from a professional user perspective.”
The creation of META underscores the group’s strong commitment to quantify and evaluate the rapidly evolving digital audio technologies. “The highest quality audio to have ever been produced for mass consumption is currently available to all lovers of music and yet most channels of current delivery fall well short of what’s possible,” comments META cofounder and multi-Grammy winner Frank Filipetti. “We intend to change that. We are trying to bring back to listeners the unbridled passion that comes from listening to a beautifully recorded work played back on a high quality sound system.”
Established in 2005, the Music Engineering & Technology Alliance, Inc. (META) is comprised of a group of globally recognized, award-winning audio engineers and producers. In addition to making culturally significant recordings for over three decades, the group has been deeply involved in establishing techniques and technical standards that are the foundation of modern music recordings.
